Niki Ashton mum on whether she will support Mulcair at NDP convention

NDP MP Niki Ashton is refusing to categorically state whether she wants Tom Mulcair to stay on as party leader.

Ashton, a former leadership candidate, was asked several times at a news conference whether she intends to support Mulcair when he faces a leadership review in Edmonton in April.

“It’s up to members to decide how they want to go forward,” said Ashton, who represents the Manitoba riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski.

“I am proud to be part of a strong team in the Commons, a progressive team, but I obviously respect the process we will face at the convention so members can make their choice.”

Ashton, an MP since 2008, sought the NDP’s top job in 2012 which Mulcair eventually won.

Her refusal to publicly endorse him did not appear to unduly upset Robert Aubin, head of the party’s Quebec caucus.

“What I’m hearing is that Tom Mulcair is still the man who can lead us to the next election campaign,” he said.

“Obviously, it will be up to him, once the results of the vote are made public, to see whether he still feels comfortable leading the troops.”

The NDP’s constitution calls for a secret ballot at next month’s convention; if more than 50 per cent of the ballots call for new leadership, a vote must be held within a year.

The New Democrats were reduced to just 44 seats and third-party status in the Commons after beginning the campaign with 95 seats.

Ashton’s comments came the same day three former NDP MPs from Quebec published a letter in Montreal Le Devoir to say they were troubled the party has “forgotten its raison d’etre and the values it has always incarnated.”

Jamie Nicholls, Elaine Michaud and Helene LeBlanc say they did not feel represented in the NDP electoral platform they had to defend last year.

“We no longer recognize our own party,” they wrote, adding they want it to become “more progressive, more democratic, more transparent and more in touch with its members.”

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